Hull died in 1999 after falling off the roof of his house as he tried to adjust his TV aerial to improve the reception for a Champions League football match.

Rod Hull and his sidekick puppet Emu

In his book, Bristow says: "I didn't like Rod Hull, he was a pervert who was getting away with something that wasn't right.

"He used the puppet to feel up women and stick his hand between people's legs. It was out of order."

Bristow also tells of a confrontation with the comedian ahead of his appearance on the darts show Bullseye.

Darts player Eric Bristow makes the claims in his autobiography The Crafty Cockney

Admitting he'd had a drink, Bristow describes threatening Hull with violence if he came anywhere near him. He adds: "If he'd touched me inappropriately with his hand I would have sparked him."

Hull's act would see him apparently astonished and powerless as Emu attacked celebrities, including one memorable incident when he went for the host on the Michael Parkinson show in the 70s.

After his death, Parkinson described the 63-year-old as "a charming, intelligent and sensitive man, quite unlike Emu.

"The Emu was the dark side of Rod's personality, and very funny, provided it was not on top of you."

Bristow's book, published two years ago, also recounts a violent teenage past which saw him attack a policeman and beat a man unconscious with a pool cue.

Confessing to carrying a claw hammer "just in case", he was also part of a burglary gang, but maintains the group "respected" the homes they targeted.

He wrote: "We’d never soil the beds or urinate up the walls the ways they do now." During one raid he even claims the gang stopped to cook themselves breakfast, adding: "But because we were good thieves we even washed the pots and put them back where we found them."